Druid Talent Builds

Looking for the best druid talent builds? Well, look no further…at ZugGaming we’ve got you covered! Personally I don’t know a whole lot about druid talent specs, but for this article I enlisted the help of Smolderthorn’s best druid and a personal friend of mine, Suganem. So, big thanks to him for his assistance here. With that said, let’s get right into the druid talent builds.

PvP Druid Builds

PvP as a druid can be one of the most amazing or frustrating experiencing in WoW. A large part of your success is going to depend on having the right pvp druid talent build. With the right druid talent spec you’ll be on the fast track to success, have the wrong build and you’re just wasting your time.

If you’re a druid in PvE you should feel really fortunate, you have the option of playing 3 different specs…all of which are incredibly good. Every raid is going to want at least one feral or balance druids in their raid and well…restoration is just always going to be amazing. Which every build you elect to go with you can rest assured you can find one of the best PvE druid builds available below.

PvE Balance Build – You’ll have 2 points left over, either placed into Dreamstate (mana regen), Improved Faerie Fire (If hit is needed), or Owlkin Frenzy (extra damage). If 3% hit is needed (no shadow priest), take one point out of Celestial Focus and place the 3 points into Improved Faerie Fire.

PvE Resto Build – You’ll have 4 points left over, either placed into Balance to get Celestial Focus, or Tranquil Spirit if you use Nourist a lot.

For leveling purposes you have a few different options, there’s no real “must have” spec here. That said, I’ve always felt feral is simply the best route. You don’t really have to worry about mana, you have the ability to grind like none other, and you can still hold your on in PvP. If you are absolutely against feral builds for leveling you could opt for a balance / moonkin build, however I wouldn’t go balance until you’ve made it to Outlands. Also, if you’re looking for a kick ass leveling guide make sure to check out Zygor’s 1-80 power leveling guide. I’ve used it myself and have nothing but positive things to say about it.

The problem with building a feral hybrid PvE build for tanking/dps’ing is that a specific role is never assigned. You may be used more for tanking or more for dps in that specific run. Heck, you may OT 2 fights or you may OT 10 fights, it’s all going to depend on your raid.

The build I came up with is one that I’ve used in that role. I don’t have the greatest feral gear, as it’s my last spec for PvE, but it is all Naxx 10/epics. Using that spec I’m able to maintain a solid 3.2-3.5k DPS while DPS’ing, all while being able to be a very competent OT (and even MT for an occasion) if necessary.

The build you showed would be adequate for those roles, but is lacking one key talent, 3/3 Infected Wounds. That is critical for tanking. Absolutely critical. The reason I did not take Predatory Instincts is that 10% increased critical damage is lackluster compared to filling out Master Shapeshifter and getting both a 4% increase in damage while in bear (for threat, a considerable problem for bears when DPS is very well geared), and for 4% crit chance in cat, which is huge. I would not normally take Improved Mangle in a DPS build, but of course this is a hybrid build. Improved Mangle is absolutely essential for tanking because Mangle is by far the highest threat move in a bear’s arsenal.

There are always different thoughts, and I’d like to know yours on why you chose specific talents. There’s always room for learning. I can profess I’m not a master at feral like I am at balance and resto, but those builds have proven to be the best for me.

jamie

March 9, 2009

Sorry to say i have been a druid all my wow life and some of those specs are completly wrong as i always ask the best people and more than 50 before deciding on a spec an the balance one one or two points wrong the feral dps is wrong and i hvent looked at the others but will post what u want as they will be better.

If you can show me the specs, sure, I’ll defend them. But don’t come in making statements like that, especially with terrible grammar, and expect anyone to take you seriously without making any sort of assertion in your defense.

Regarding the Balance build, there is no better. Ask Wisprunner, the top moonkin theorycrafter in the field, the build I linked is the top for PvE DPS. I would love to see your “build” that is better.

Sorry to sound like a prick, but I don’t like when people come in and not only spell terribly with no grammar, but have no basis for their accusations. I love comments like Gemski’s, because it provides room for argument and interpretation. Yours, on the other hand, is a worthless comment that nobody should really listen to.

Ryan

March 18, 2009

thanks for the great info i just started a druid and was looking for some good advice….. also jamie is an idiot. i have absolutely no idea wut they were saying or meant and i think my head may explode soon because i tried so hard to interperet that.

Yeah in fact Jamie has right.. ive played druid 4 years now and jsut to say newbeginners who choose druid dont follow these talents build omg fail! Right now im the best Balance druid in my guild we are 3, and i max teh Dmg meter of us all everytime, every raid im at top 3 in heroic 25 man raids.. Seriously if u making this to help people please do some research or try it urselfs LOL! :D

Tiisin

April 15, 2009

I have tanked on a feral druid now for about 2 and a half years. Well regarding the PvE Feral tanking build i see a few issues from my point of view first off it doesn’t fill out naturalist which is big loss in threat instead it seems as if it goes for master shapshifter which is kind of a waste of talent points since 5/5 naturalist gives 10% bonus while the 5 points needed to get 2/2 master shapeshifter only give 4% bonus in bear also you dont take berserk which is great for burst threating on a boss another point of contention i have is not take primal gore which actually is a big boost in threat instead this build takes brutal impact but on a boss 30 secs less of bash is useless the build i usually tank with and have found to work really well for me is http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGscrzceRcczAkbE0z:0zn

Zel

May 6, 2009

The feral tanking build is flawed…why have two points into improved bash when bosses are immune to it?
Also, the points in primal precision are designed more for kittys than bears. You’re there to generate more threat than the dps, thats all.
In addition you have no point in primal gore. Is the 40% (approx) chance of a bleed effect critting no use to threat generation? I think it is.
You’re missing three point in Naturalist which is complimentary to threat generation, and you have points in infected wounds which is only useful on trash tanking. In some fights its detrimental to the raid…(OS fire elemental adds for example).
Not maxing out rend and tear? OK…
No beserk? wtf…

Tankie

July 8, 2009

I dont know if this is just me, but i would say getting wild growth is almost a must have spell for pve healing. Keep the lifebloom rolling and spam wild growth/revj. If you have 2-3 resto druids in a raid the aoe healing powers would be insane if you take mana pools into consideration.

Stompinghoof

July 28, 2009

To Tankie,
Being a resto druid for quite some time (before wild growth) I tend to agree with the build posted for resto druids. Now if you armory me yes i have wild growth. yes i do use it occasionally. I do feel however that a druid can be just as effective at raid healing with out it. Also for rolling your lifeblooms. i tend not to do that anymore since the cost of lifebloom is so high now. also when you let it proc it grants you half the mana you used to cast it. ultimately it all depends on playstyle. i often switch it up depending on what i want to do. so ultimately i dont see wild growth as being a must have spell for resto druids.

darth

March 22, 2010

have u seen a resto balance hybrid pvp spec and do u think it would be good?